In the summer months the winds in the Ionian and the Aegean are predominantly from the North. In the Aegean the constancy of the northerly winds in the summer has been noted from ancient times when they were calledthe etesians from etos (annual). Today they are commonly called by their Turkish name– the meltemi. This wind begins blowing in June and early July, reaches strengthin July and August, and dies off at the end of September and early October. The meltemiblows less strongly in the north and the south than into the central Aegean.

The meltemi is a consequence of a pressure gradient between a low-pressure areaover Pakistan (the Asian monsoon low) which extends its influence as far as theEastern Mediterranean and the high-pressure area over the Azores whichaffects the Western Mediterranean. The pressure gradient between these twostable pressure areas produces the constant northerlies in the summer.